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CONSTITUTION 



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AND SOME OF THE 



RESOLUTIONS 



ADOPTED AT THE 



FIFTH NATIONAL CONVENTION, 

Held at Rochester, X. T., August 35tfi to 28tti,- 1868, 

With an ADDRESS to the 

SPIRITUALISTS OF AMERICA, 

BY THE 

BOARD OP TRUSTEES OF THE ASSOCIATION, 

TO WHICH IS ADDED A FORM OF CONSTITUTION FOR LOCAL SOCIETIES. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
Rawlings & Zeising, Prs., S. E. Cor. Fourth and Chestnut Sts. 

1868. 



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CONSTITUTION 



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AND SOME OF THE 



RESOLUTJOMS 



ADOPTED AT THE 



FIFTH NATIONAL CONVENTION, 

Held at Rochester, X. Y., August 25th to 28th, 1868, 

With an ADDRESS to the 

SPIRITUALISTS OF AMERICA, 

BY THE 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE ASSOCIATION, 

TO WHICH IS ADDED A FORM OF CONSTITUTION FOR LOCAL SOCIETIES. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
Rawlings & Zeising, Prs., S. E. Cor. Fourth and Chestnut Sts. 

1868. 






PREAMBLE AND CONSTITUTION 

OK THE 

American Association of Spiritualists, 

Adopted at the Fifth National Convention, held at Rochester, N. T n 
August 28th, 1868. 



The undersigned, feeling the necessity of a Religious Organization free 
from the trammels of sect or dogma, and more in accordance with the spirit 
of American Institutions as manifested to the world by the Declaration of 
Independence, than any Religious Organization now existing ; believe that 
the time has come for concentrated action. While we seek after all truth, 
and believe that in united and associative action, under proper system and 
order, these objects can be most succesfully reached, hereby unite ourselves 
together, under the following 

ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION. 

Article I. — Name. 

This Association shall be known as the "American Association ok 
Spiritualists." 

Article II. — Objects. 

Its objects shall be to co-operate with State and Local Organizations, in 
the promulgation of the Spiritual Philosophy and its teachings, aid in the 
organization of Local and State Societies, where no State Association has 
been formed ; and encourage the establishment of at least one National 
College, for the education of persons of both sexes, on terms of equality, 
free from all sectarian dogmas, where our children may be educated in 
accordance with the progressive developments of the age. 

Article III. — Membership. 

Any person may become a member by signing the Articles of Association, 
or causing the same to be done, and paying any sum not less than five 
dollars ; which amount shall be paid annually thereafter, and any member 
may withdraw at any time, without being required to give reasons therefor. 
The payment of the sum of fifty dollars in one year shall constitute a person 
a life member of the Association. 

Article IV. — Officers. 

The Officers of the Association shall be a President, and as many Vice 
Presidents as there are organized State, District, Territorial or Provincial 
Associations, the Presidents of such, being ex-officio Vice Presidents of this 
Association, and authorized to act as such, after signing these articles, and 
paying as above ; one Secretary, one Treasurer, and a Board of six Trustees, 
not more than two of whom shall be from any one State, who shall serve 



three years. After the first election, the Trustees elect shall determine by 
lot, which two of them shall serve one, two, or three years, and two Trustees 
shull be thereafter elected annually, who shall serve three years. The 
Officers shall be elected by ballot, and serve until their successors are elected. 
The Treasurer shall give bonds in such amount as the Board of Trustees 
shall order. The President, Secretary and Treasurer, shall be elected annu- 
ally, and shall be ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees. The duties 
of officers shall be such as pertain usually to officers of like character, in 
regularly organized bodies. 

Article V. — Trustees. 

The Board of Trustees shall have entire control of all business matters of 
the Association ; they shall meet quarterly for the transaction of business, 
at such places as the President of the Board may indicate, or they may deter- 
mine from time to time. Five members shall constitute a quorum for the 
transaction of business. 

Article VI. — The duties of Trustees. 

Sec. 1. The Trustees are hereby constituted a Missionary Board, and it 
shall be their duty to employ as many Missionaries as the funds in the Trea- 
sury will permit; to assign them to fields of labor, and require from them 
written monthly reports of all collections ; all societies organized, with the 
names of officers, and such other duties as a majority of the Board may 
deem necessary to effect any of the objects of this Association, as provided 
for in Article II. 

Sec. 2. By-Laws. They may adopt a code of By-Laws, for their own 
government, and this Association, which shall, however, be submitted to the 
first Annual Convention, to assemble thereafter, for approval. 

Sec. 3. Annual Reports. They shall make an Annual Report to the 
Association, of all their doings, containing an accurate account of all moneys 
received and expended, from what sources received, and for what purposes 
expended ; and in no case shall any money be paid from the treasury of 
this Association, for any other purpose or object, than that set forth in 
Article II, and then only by order of the President, countersigned by the 
Secretary. 

Article VI 1 — Annual Conventions. 

At all Annual or Business Conventions of the American Association of 
Spiritualists, the business shall be conducted exclusively by the Delegates 
from the several State Organizations, each of which shall be entitled to 
the same number of Delegates that they have Representatives in Congress. 
Provided, that each Territory aud Province having an organized Society, 
shall be represented in this Convention, by the number of Representatives in 
such government, and that the District of Columbia shall be entitled to two 
Representatives in the Conventions. 

Article VI II. — Amendments. 

This Constitution may be amended at any Annual Meeting of the Associa- 
tion, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members present: Provided, that 
Article III. as to membership, shall never be amended so as to prescribe any 
articles of faith or belief as a test of membership. 



Article IX. — Annual Meetings. 

The annual meetings of this Association, will be held, commencing the 
last Tuesday in August, in each and every year, at such places as the Trustees 
may appoint.* 

DORUS M. FOX, President, Lyons, Michigan. 
HENRY T. CHILD, M. D., Secretary, 634 Race Street, Philadelphia. 

M. B. DYOTT, Treasurer, 114 South Second Street, Philadelphia. 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 

ROBERT T. HALLOCK, New York. 

WARREN CHASE, 544 Broadway, New York. 
HANNAH F. M. BROWN, P. 0. Drawer 5956, Chicago, Illinois. 

ALMON B. FRENCH, Clyde, Ohio. 
GEORGE A. BACON, Boston, Mass. 

JOHN C. DEXTER, Ionia, Michigan. 



— •th~&-o-a~+- 



RESOLUTIONS, 

Adopted at the Fifth National Convention., embodying essential truths of Modern 

Spiritualism. 

1. That man has a spiritual nature as well as a corporeal; in other 
words, that the real man is a spirit, which spirit has an organized 
form, composed of spiritual substance, with parts and organs corres- 
ponding to those of the corporeal body. 

2. That man, as a spirit, is immortal and has continued identity. 
Being found to survive that change called physical death, it may 
be reasonably supposed that he will survive all future vicissitudes. 

3. That there is a spirit-world, with its substantial realities, 
objective as well as subjective. 

4. That the process of physical death in no way essentialby trans- 
forms the mental constitution, or the moral character of those who 
experience it. 

5. That happiness or suffering in the spirit-world, as in this, de- 
pends noton arbitrary decree, or special provision, but on character, 
aspirations and degree of harmonization, or of personal conformity 
to universal and divine law. 

6. Hence that the experiences and attainments of this life lay 
the foundation on which the next commences. 

7. That since growth is the law of the human being in the pre- 
sent life, and since the process called death is in fact but a birth 

*[NOTE. — The members of the Board of Trustees, and their Missionaries, 
are the only persons authorized to obtain names, and collect funds for this 
Association. For further particulars address the President or Secretary. 

After the adoption of the Constitution by the Convention, the following 
resolution, offered by Warren Chase, was unanimously adopted: 

That this Convention resolve itself into, and resign all its assets to, the 
American Association of Spiritualists. 



6 

into another condition of life, retaining all the advantages gained in 
the experiences of this life, it may be inferred that growth, develop- 
ment, or progression is the endless destiny of the human spirit. 

8. That the spirit-world is near or around, and interblended with 
our present state of existence; and hence that we are constantly 
under the cognizance and influence of spiritual beings. 

9. That as individuals are passing from the earthly to the spirit- 
world in all stages of mental and moral growth, that world in- 
cludes all grades of character from the lowest to the highest. 

10. That since happiness and misery depend on internal states, 
rather than on external surroundings, there must be as many grades 
of each in the spirit-world, as there are shades of character — each 
gravitating to his own place by the natural law of affinity. 

11. That communications from the spirit-world, whether by men- 
tal impression, inspiration, or any other mode of transmission, are 
not necessarily infallible truths, but on the contrary partake unavoid- 
ably of the imperfections of the minds from which they emanate, 
and of the channels through which they come, and are, moreover, 
liable to misinterpretation by those to whom they are addressed. 

12. Hence, that no inspired communication, in this or any past 
age (whatever claims may be or have been set up as to its source), 
is authoritative any farther than it expresses truth to the individual 
consciousness, which last is the final standard to which all inspired 
or spiritual teachings must be brought for test. 

18. That inspiration, or the influx of ideas and promptings from 
the spirit-world, is not a miracle of a past age, but a perpetual fact, 
the ceaseless method of the divine economy for human elevation. 

14. That all angelic and all demonic beings which have mani- 
fested themselves or interposed in human affairs in the past, were 
simply disembodied human spirits, or beings of like character and 
origin, in different grades of advancement. 

15. That all authentic miracles (so called) in the past, such as the 
raising of the apparently dead, the healing of the sick by the laying 
on of hands or other simple means, power over deadly poisons, the 
movement of physical objects without visible instrumentality, etc., 
have been produced in harmony with universal laws, and hence 
may be repeated at any time under suitable conditions. 

16. That the causes of all phenomena — the sources of all power, 
life and intelligence — are to be sought for in the internal or spiritual 
realm, not in the external or material. 

17. That the chain of causation, traced backward from what we 
see in nature and in man, leads inevitably to a Creative Spirit, who 
must be not only a fount of life (Love), but a form hit/ principle 
(Wisdom) — thus sustaining the dual parental relations of Father 
and Mother to all individualized intelligence, who, consequently, 
are all brethren. 



18. That man, as the offspring of this Infinite Parent, is in some 
sense His image or finite embodiment; and that, by virtue of this 
parentage, each human being is, or has, in his inmost, a germ of 
divinity — an incorruptible off-shoot of the Divine Essence, which is 
ever prompting to good and right. 

19. That all evil in man is inharmony with this divine principle; 
and hence whatever prompts and aids man to bring his external 
nature into subjection to, and harmony with the divine in him — in 
whatever religious system or formula it may be embodied — is a 
"means of salvation" from evil. 

20. That the hearty and intelligent conviction of these truths, 
with a realization of spirit-communion, tends 

1st. To enkindle lofty desires and spiritual aspirations, an effect 
opposite to that of materialism, which limits existence to the 
present life. 

2d. To deliver from painful fears of death and dread of imagi- 
nary evils consequent thereupon, as well as to prevent inordinate 
sorrow and mourning for deceased friends. 

3d. To give a rational and inviting conception of the after-life 
to those who use the present worthily. 

4th. To stimulate to the highest possible uses of the present 
life, in view of its momentous relations to the future. 

5th. To energize the soul in all that is good and elevating, and 
to restrain from all that is evil and impure. This must result, 
according to the laws of moral influence, from a knowledge of the 
constant presence or cognizance of the loved and the pure. 

6th. To prompt our earnest endeavors, by purity of life, by 
unselfishness, and by loftiness of aspmition, to live constantly 
m rapport, with the higher conditions of spirit-life and thought. 

7th. To stimulate the mind to the largest investigation and the 
freest thought on all subjects, especially on the vital themes of 
spiritual philosophy and duty, that we may be qualified to judge 
for ourselves what is right and true. 

8th. To deliver from all bondage to authority, whether vested in 
creed, book or church, except that of received truth. 

9th. To cultivate self-reliance and careful investigation by taking 
away the support of authorities, and leaving each mind to exercise 
its own truth-determining powers. 

10th. To quicken all philanthropic impulses, stimulating to 
enlightened and unselfish labors for universal human good, under 
the encouraging assurance that the redeemed and exalted spirits of 
our race, instead of retiring to idle away an eternity of inglorious 
ease, are encompassing us about as a great cloud of witnesses, 
inspiring us to the work, and aiding it forward to a certain and 
glorious issue. 



ADDEE8S 

TO THE 

SPIRITUALISTS OF AMERICA. 



The Fifth National Convention of Spiritualists, which met in the 
city of Rochester, N. Y., on the twenty-fifth of August last, closed 
its labors by resolving itself into an Organization under the title of 
" The American Association of Spiritualists ; " the plan and objects 
of which are herewith submitted : 

We commend this plan of organization to your approval, not 
on the ground of its perfection, but as the best and most practical 
which the united wisdom and experience of the Convention could 
suggest. Its objects are clearly stated. They reach beyond all 
that has been aimed at by any other which receives the popular 
favor. As the Association, which originated the plan, assumes, by 
its title, the Continent as the field of its labor, so do its objects 
embrace every known interest belonging to man, either for time 
or for eternity. 

The facts and philosophy of Spiritualism point unerringly to 
the duty of an earnest effort to establish human life upon the im- 
mutable principles which life alone reveals. Man, by authority of 
these, is a spiritual being- and, as such, is the subject of laws 
which dominate his every action. The world has not known this. 
Its usages rest upon an hypothesis directly the reverse. Its closest 
approximation to truth in this fundamental particular is that, man. 
by some inscrutable process, dependent upon the Divine pleasure, 
will at some unknown period in eternity become a spirit. But this 
half-way affirmation is shorn of most of its practical value, by being 
coupled with the supposition that the life which it concedes is not 
natural, but supernatural ; that is to say, it is not a man who is to 
enter upon another plane of existence, and then, as now, to be the 
subject of law; but an indefinite immateriality -within, or some- 
where about, or in some way connected with the man, which, no 
one knows when, is to be blown into consciousness, and receive its 
final award Of unalterable happiness or misery through the lips of 



9 

an irresponsible court of adjudication. This hypothesis severs the 
natural relation between the present and future state of being. It 
separates them by an impassable gulf; and of the latter, quoting 
Shakespeare for Scripture, it declares that from its bourn no traveler 
returns. It assumes a total disruption of the divine order manifest 
in all else. It is not immortality, or a continned existence, but a 
new life, a life subject to will, and not, as here, to law. In order 
to realize its highest promises, a man need have neither perception, 
reflection, nor judgment. He has only to profess his belief in what 
is told him, by teachers whose whole course of instruction consists 
in telling him what they have themselves been told. Accepting 
this mere story of salvation, he is warranted safe. Safe, because 
some one has said that such is the "scheme of redemption/' and 
some other one has believed the report and repeated it to somebody 
else and so on, with no other thought but to continue the repetition 
ad infinitum. 

In this life we see that the man succeeds the child ; and for all 
that is supposed to relate to maturity, childhood is made a state of 
preparation. But, by assuming the life beyond the body to be 
wholly different, there can be no rational preparation for it while 
in the body, and there is none. This is the prominent error we 
would overcome. Life stands revealed to us as a continuity. This 
is its childhood. Here it is to acquire the elementary rules — the 
fundamental principles which are never to fail it. And as in the 
common school, the boy counts his marbles by the same unfailing 
principle of numbers which, in his manhood, enables him to reckon 
his dollars, so have we learned that the principles which obtain in 
that maturer life which is beyond the grave, will also solve all the 
problems which belong to this. In fact, they furnish the only 
means of solution. It is this which gives to Spiritualism its broad 
significance and makes it practical in the world, and it is the vital 
object therefore of the Organization we are considering, to com- 
mend it to the world's most candid and serious attention. 

It aims at the awakening of a supervision of humanity, which 
shall ante-date the birth of the individual; and, when born, shall 
invoke all the aid which physical science, united to a knowledge 
of spiritual law, can give for the expression of that individuality. 
Thus, in its educational aspect, it seeks to avoid and to correct a 



10 

universally popular mistake. Institutional training is seen every- 
where to stamp itself indelibly upon the pupil or subject. He may, 
and in many instances does, outgrow the institution, but its seam 
remain. Each sect strives to mold every individual into a likeness 
of itself; and, in so far as it succeeds, the world is deprived of the 
benefit of originality which naturally springs from freedom of 
thought. No sect advances beyond its founder. The world has 
the advantage of his inspiration, and is deprived of that of every 
other individual who is called by his name. Did they teach truth 
only, the mode is wasteful. But they do not, and to this waste of 
individuality is added the destructive tendency of error. From 
the days of Paul down to this hour, may be traced the iron grasp 
of institutionalism upon the human spirit. Under its fear, men 
hide the truth that they know, and dare not examine the evidence 
for that which they would gladly believe. 

Our effort is for freedom from this yoke. Freedom, not only for 
such of us as belong to a generation that is fast passing away, but 
for the next, and for all the future. To this end, we desire to lay 
before the prospective parentage of the coming humanity, induce- 
ments derived from the facts and principles of physical and psy- 
chical science, which shall appeal to their reason and conscience, 
so as to arouse the dormant sense of responsibility on the part of 
parents in the production of offspring, which has slumbered through- 
out the ages. To cure the evil we must know its cause. The 
institutional religion of our land has a devil for the origin, and a 
creed, which sets both reason and justice at defiance, for the cure. 
The responsibility of the subject is limited to an open profession 
of belief in it. 

We hold that parents are a responsible, if not the primary cause 
of much of the misery which the world deplores, and not the devil 
of the church. We insist that parents with devilish proclivities 
should not produce offspring — that it is as much an outrage upon 
the inalienable rights of humanity to create a human being from 
mere animal provocation, as it is to kill one. Either may occur 
through ignorance or recklessness; but the effect upon the subject 
and upon society is the same as if done from malice outright. 

We aim at nobler souls through the instrumentality of purer 
birth and a natural education — an education, which, at its baaia, 



11 

shall recognize all truth as divine ; which, in its method, shall 
invite the pupil to glean its golden grains from every field that 
offers a reward for his labor; which shall aid him in reading the 
gospel of living fact, as well as "the gospel according to St. Matthew,' 
which shall bid him welcome to the great storehouse of history, to 
the granary of modern experience and to daily manna from heaven, 
which shall leave him free to make Jesus' truth, and Paul's, and 
Luther's, and Calvin's, and Fox's, and Channing's, and Parker's, 
incorporate with his own, for the purpose that he may be not a 
Christian, a Calvinist, a Quaker, or a Unitarian merely, but a man. 

The world waits, Oh, how it waits ! not for the coming Presbyte- 
rian, nor Methodist, nor sectarian of any type, but for this coming 
Man. It instinctively feels that it has enough of everything but 
manhood. It has land enough, water enough ; institutions enough 
and sects enough • gold and silver in abundance, and the fruits of 
the earth in profusion ; but is not happy. It is awaiting a nobler 
humanity — the incarnation of its ideal man, with the sure intuition, 
that, at his magic touch alone, can abundance be transformed into 
happiness . 

But its cherished institutions furnish no possible parentage. Every- 
thing brings forth after its kind. Only a man can beget a man. 
Childhood is incompetent, and ignorance can but multiply itself, as 
sect only increases sectarianism. The manhood of the offspring of 
these is in perpetual abeyance while on the earth. Their eyes are 
in the back part of the head instead of the front. They are per- 
petually peering into last night. Their hope and their trust are in 
what somebody else is supposed to have known, and in nothing which 
they know themselves, or care to know. Their manhood powers 
are typified by a certain order of Batrachia, which, while confined 
to the pond, have no legs visible. They hope for results without 
the least regard to causes. Like children who cry for candy, with 
no reference to the amount of copper in the parental pocket, they 
do not concern themselves with conditions, precedent. As they 
accept it, God has finished his work and gone home to rest, by way 
of a brilliant example for eternal idleness. 

The fear of truth can never discover the truth. A man who, 
while holding what he supposes to be a truth, refuses to examine 
any other for fear it may unsettle his faith in what he has, is without 



12 

a standard of truth in his own soul. He mistakes a fictitious injury 
to himself for a wound inflicted upon the invincible. .More unfor- 
tunate still, that which he imagines himself to have (and though it 
were true in itself,) is not truth to him. Were it the demonstration 
of his own consciousness, he would know that it never could be 
unsettled. This is the condition of our popular religion. At the 
best, it mistakes the memory of truth for the consciousness of it — 
the power to repeat, for the ability to understand. It repeats error 
as glibly as it does truth, and denounces all efforts at discrimination. 
It means well, but it does not know well. 

Out of that Nazareth no divine manhood can come. It is only 
possible through the courage, the independence and the fidelity of 
those who, in dismissing all fear of truth, open their souls to its 
reception, through men and Avouieu who can lay aside tradition, in 
order to learn what their own observation and inner experience have 
to reveal. These modes of knowledge have brought us en rapport 
with the spirit-world, whence is demonstrated the spiritual nature 
of man and the eternal fixity of law. That, to secure the welfare 
of being, attention must be had solely to the laws of being. That 
he is the product of law — of the divine order in nature — and not 
of miracle, and is not to be saved by a miracle ; nor to be reformed 
by denouncing the nature which Nature gave him ; but by under- 
standing it and obeying its suggestions as the veritable voice of God. 

Friends, these are among the basic truths which Spiritualism is 
intended to establish in this world. The organization which we 
commend is simply the machinery by which it is hoped to facilitate 
the work. The plan which we lay before you is the product of the 
natural growth of spiritual ideas. The Convention which framed 
it, felt the pressure of the sentiment running throughout its con- 
stituency, that an effort, at least, in this direction, must be made. 
Many had said, and more had thought, that the time was come for 
it to act, as well as talk. In obedience to your inspiration it has 
acted — acted unanimously. The result is before you in detail. In 
the sacred name of humanity, and in view of its needs, you have 
virtually demanded of that Convention, that it should work more 
and talk less. It has obeyed you. More earnest, thoughtful labor, 
was never performed by any Convention, for any purpose, in the 
same time. See to it then, we implore you, in behalf of the same 



13 

needs to which you cited the Convention as a stimulus to industry, 
that you also do something as well as say it. It is easy to employ 
words in adverse criticism upon what it has done; it may not be 
all, or, exactly what you desire as a plan ; but this is certain — talk 
may kill it, while cash is essential to make it move. As a Conven- 
es labor necessarily pauses at a point analogous to that of the 
mechanic when he has completed a locomotive. There it stands, 
perfect in all its parts, as his skill can make it, and ready for useful 
work ; but, unless somebody will furnish the necessary outlay for 
fuel, there it will stand until the elements resolve it back into them- 
selves again; and, unless the requisite means, in its kind, are 
supplied, so also, will this. 

The sums named in the section relating to membership, that is to 
say, allusion to money at all, in that connection, is for the single 
purpose of putting this organic form in motion upon the line of its 
duty. It is not a juggernaut, it will crush nobody, that it need be 
feared. Though it should go upon its appointed pathway, freighted 
with truths, it can confer them only upon the willing. It can force 
them nowhere. It can trouble no man who desires to be rid of it. 
It has no secrets. The Trustees, by virtue of its provisions, will 
faithfully apply all the funds with which they are furnished, to 
the objects named or purposes indicated; and to the Convention 
which is to succeed the one that created the trust, will render a 
a true account thereof. 

Your Board recommend the following form of Organization, for the pur- 
pose of securing uniformity of action, and urge upon the Spiritualists of 
America the necessity of immediate efforts in this direction. 

Everywhere over our land there are those who need the sympathy and 
strength that is to be found in unity and concerted action. We must pro- 
vide for the social demands of our nature. Hundred of Spiritualists go 
back to the churches, and thousands yet remain there, merely for want of 
Societies that shall ensure them the kind sympathies and support of brothers and 
sisters of the same faith. Oh ! how keenly have we, isolated as we have been 
for the last few years, felt this deficiency; hence we earnestly recommend 
association, and request the friends of the Cause everywhere, to forward 
their names and subscriptions to the Secretary, or any of the members 
of the Board. 

We suggest the following Form of Association, subject to any modifica- 
tions that may be deemed necessary. 



ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION 

OP THE 



DECLARATION. 

We, the undersigned, feeling the necessity of a religious Organization 
free from the trammels of sect or dogma, while we seek after all truths in 
Science, Philosophy and Religion, and believing that in unity and asso- 
ciative action, under proper system and order, these aspirations can be most 
successfully reached, hereby unite ourselves together as a free religioui 
body, under the following Articles of Association : 

ARTICLE I. 

Section 1. The name of this Association shall be the 

Society of Spiritualists. 

Sbo. 2. The place of business meetings of this Society shall be (at or in) 
the (township, village or city,) 

County, State of 

Sec. 3. Any person may become a member of this Society by signing 
these Articles of Association, thereby manifesting a desire to live a purer 
and better life ; and any member may at any time withdraw from this 
Society without being required to give a reason therefor. 

Sec. 4. members of this Society, of the legal age, shall constitute 

a quorum in all business meetings. 

ARTICLE II. 

Section 1. The Annual Meetings of this Society shall be held on the 
day of in each year. 

Sec. 2. The regular Monthly Business Meetings of this Society shall he 
held on the of each month, at which time the Board of 

Trustees shall lay before the meeting such business as may be deemed 
necessary for its action, together with a statement, in writing, of business 
transacted by them on behalf of the Society since the last previous report, 
including the state of the treasury at the period of said report. 

Sec. 3. Special Business Meetings may be called by the President, when 
deemed necessary by him, and shall be called upon the written request of 
five members, which request and call shall state the purpose of said Special 
Meeting : Provided, That no business shall be considered at such meeting 
other than that set forth in said call. 



15 

ARTICLE III. 

Section 1. At the first meeting of this Society there shall be elected 
Trustees, who shall proceed to classify and allot to each the term 
of office, the full term being for three years, so that about one-third of said 
Trustees shall be elected each year. Trustees shall thereafter be elected 
at each Annual Meeting of the Society, to fill vacancies caused by expiration 
of term of office, or from any other cause. Vacancies occurring in said 
office of Trustees may be filled by election at any regular meeting, due 
notice having been previously given, as hereinafter provided. 

Seo. 2. All elections of Trustees shall be by ballot, two Inspectors of 
Election being selected from among the members thereof, to receive and 
couunt the ballots and declare the result. Notice of any election of Trustees, 
other than the first, shall be proclaimed by the President or some member 
at the regular meeting of the Society next preceding said election. 

Sec. 3. Said Trustees shall be of lawful age, and chosen from among 
the members of the Society. It shall be the duty of the Inspectors of the 
first election of Trustees, after the adoption of these articles, to file with 
the Clerk of the County wherein said Society shall be located a duly certified 
copy of these articles, together with the names of the charter members, 
the duly elected first Board of Trustees, and the classification of the term 
of office of each, or to comply with the law in such cases provided. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section 1. A majority of the Board of Trustees shall constitute a quorum 
for business ; and they shall choose from among their number a President, 
Secretary and Treasurer, whose terms of office shall be for one year, and 
until their successors are elected. 

Sec. 2. The President shall preside, over all meetings of the Board of 
Trustees and business meetings of the Society, and only have the casting 
vote on all motions before each body. He shall also perform all other 
functions belonging to that office. Any member of the Society may be 
called to the chair in all other meetings. 

Sec. 3. The Secretary shall faithfully record all transactions of the 
Board of Trustees and business meetings of the Society, which transactions 
shall conform to the requirements of the laws of the State under which 
this Society is chartered. All funds received on behalf of this Society 
shall be entered in the Secretary's record, and by that officer paid over to 
the Treasurer, taking receipt therefor. Said Secretary shall also perform 
all other functions belonging to the office. 

Sec. 4. The Treasurer shall enter into bonds with the Board of Trustees, 
for and in behalf of the Society, in such sum as may from time to time be 
fixed by said Board, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties 
of said office of Treasurer, and shall pay out the funds of the Society only 
•n orders duly executed by the President and Secretary. 



16 

ARTICLE V. 

Section 1. This Society, by due vote thereof, or of the Board of Trustees, 
may grant certificates of ordination, conferring the functions and powers of 
ministers of religious societies upon any of its members, according to the 
laws of the State in such cases made and provided. 

Skc. 2. These articles may be amended by a two-thirds vote of all mem- 
bers present at any regular meeting of the Society : Provided, That a notice 
in writing, embodying the proposed amendment, be read at a regular meeting 
of the Society one month preceding such action. A certified copy of any 
amendment of said articles shall be filed with the County Clerk of the 
county in which said Society may be located, when so required by law. 

Sec. 3. By-laws, not conflicting with these articles, may be adopted ai 
any regular meeting of the Society. The Board of Trustees may also 
establish rules regulating their business meetings and transactions. 



Adopted at , 

in the County of 
State of 

DORUS M. FOX, President, Lyons, Michigan. 
HENRY T. CHILD, M. D., Secretary, 634 Race Street, Philadelphia. ■ 
M. B. DYOTT, Treasurer 114 South Second Street, Philadelphia. 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 

ROBERT T. HALLOCK, New York. 

WARREN CHASE, 544 Broadway, New York. 
HANNAH F. M. BROWN, P. 0. Drawer 5956, Chicago, Illinois. 

ALMON B. FRENCH, Clyde, Ohio. 
GEORGE A. BACON, Boston, Mass. 

JOHN C. DEXTER, Ionia, Michigan. 



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